KARACHI, Feb 5: Senior journalist Nizam Siddiqui died in a local hospital on Saturday after a brief illness. He was 68. He leaves behind a widow, two sons, two daughters and a host of friends and admirers.

His funeral prayer was offered at Masjid-i-Almas in Azizabad and he was buried in the Paposhnagar graveyard.

Soyem will be held on Monday in Masjid-i-Almas, near Comprehensive High School in Azizabad, Federal B Area, after Zuhar prayers on Monday. For ladies it will be at House 1460, Block 8, Azizabad.

Nizam Siddiqui worked for a number of newspapers of the country, including Nawa-i-Waqt, Musawat and Mashriq. For the last several years, he had been associated with the Daily Jang as senior leader writer. Earlier, he had worked as chief of Jang's London desk, edited its magazine and covered important events.

Before joining the Jang group, he had also worked for the Urdu service of Radio Beijing and the Chinese news agency in China. He had also worked as controller of news in Radio Pakistan.

He began his journalistic career with Daily Pasban in Hyderabad, where he had received his education. He graduated from Sindh University. As a student, he took active part in student politics especially in the anti-One Unit movement.

In the early 1960s he shifted to Karachi, where he joined the Matri Publications and worked for the dailies Leader and Hurriyet. He also worked for Daily Anjam with Ibrahim Jalees being its editor. He also worked as a correspondent for the Jeddah-based Saudi Gazette.

As a close journalist-friend, he helped Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in organizing the Pakistan People's Party after ZAB had left the Ayub government.

His writings and editorials manifested a flair of language and his deep insight into the issues he wrote on, both in Urdu and English. Being an outspoken person, he was popular in the journalist fraternity.